Supreme Court of India

State of West Bengal & Ors. v. The Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, West Bengal & Ors

Neutral citation

Reported as [2010] 2 S.C.R. 979

Bench K.G. Balakrishnan, R.V. Raveendran, D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal JJ.

Decided 17 February 2010

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

38 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

Before parting with the case, we deem it necessary F to emphasise that despite wide powers conferred by Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution, while passing any order, the Courts must bear in mind certain self-imposed limitations on the exercise of these Constitutional powers.

Judgment, page 50

From the headnote

Constitution of India, 1950: Articles 32 and 226 rlw Article 21 - Fundamental rights - Fair and impartial investigation - Judicial Review - Direction by Supreme Court/High Court to CBI to investigate c a cognizable offence committed within territorial jurisdiction 0 of a State without the consent of the State Government - HELD: Will neither impinge upon the federal structure of the Constitution nor will it violate the doctrine of separation of powers, and shall be valid in law - State has a duty to enforce · human rights of a citizen providing for fair and impartial investigation -

Authorities it was built on

2006 M. Nagaraj and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors cited by 51
1993 Smt. Nilabati Behera Alias Laut Behera (through the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee) v. State of Orissa and Ors. cited by 50
1997 Vineet Narain and Ors v. Union of India and Anr. cited by 38
1983 Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India & Others cited by 23
2007 Raja Ram Pal v. The Honble Speaker, Lok Sabha & Ors. cited by 18
1965 Dwarkanath, Hindu Undivided Family v. Income-tax Officer, Special Circle, Kanpur Andanr. cited by 15
1962 Kharak Singh v. The State of U. P. & Others cited by 12
1980 Khatri and Others v. State of Bihar & Ors. cited by 11
2004 Tirupati Balaji Developers Pvt. Ltd. and Ors. v. Stte of Bihar and Ors. cited by 9
1988 Kehar Singh and Anr. Etc. v. Union of India & Anr. cited by 9
2007 State of U.P. and Ors. v. Jeet S. Bisht and Anr. cited by 7
1981 Khatri & Ors. Etc. v. State of Bihar & Ors. cited by 3

Where later benches applied it

2024 P. Manikandan v. Central Bureau of Investigation and Ors. relied on
2023 Royden Harold Buthello & Anr. v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors. relied on
2014 Mohd. Haroon & Ors. v. Union of India & Anr. relied on
2013 Doliben Kantilal Patel v. State of Gujarat & Anr. relied on
2026 Save Mon Region Federation & Anr. v. The State of Arunachal Pradesh & Ors. followed
2025 Legislative Council U.P. Lucknow & Ors. v. Sushil Kumar & Ors. followed
2025 Khursheed Ahmad Chohan v. Union of Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ors. Etc. followed
2025 Vinay Aggarwal v. The State of Haryana and Ors. followed
2022 Himanshu Kumar and Others v. State of Chhattisgarh and Others followed
2020 Arnab Ranjan Goswami v. Union of India and Ors. followed
2019 Shree Shree Ram Janki Ji Asthan Tapovan Mandir & Anr. v. The State of Jharkhand & Ors. followed
2018 Romila Thapar and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. followed
2018 Bimal Gurung v. Union of India & Ors. followed
2013 Alsia Pardhi v. State of M.P. & Ors. followed
2013 Advocates Association,, Bangalore v. Union of India & Ors followed
2025 Sukdeb Saha v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors referred to
2025 National Spot Exchange Limited v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2024 State of U.P. & Ors v. M/s Lalta Prasad Vaish and Sons referred to
2024 Mineral Area Development Authority & Anr. v. M/s Steel Authority of India & Anr. Etc. referred to
2024 The State of West Bengal v. Union of India referred to
2023 Kaushal Kishor v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. referred to
2022 Vijay Madanlal Choudhary & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2022 Nedumpilli Finance Company Limited v. State of Kerala & Ors. referred to
2021 Bureau of Investigation (cbi) and Anr. v. Thommandru Hannah Vijayalakshmi @ T. H. Vijayalakshmi and Anr. referred to
2020 Rana Nahid @ Reshma @ Sana & Anr. v. Sahidul Haq Chisti referred to
2018 Union of India and Anr. v. Sunil Tripathi Etc. Etc. referred to
2017 Asha Ranjan v. State of Bihar & Ors. referred to
2016 Pooja Pal v. Union of India and Ors. referred to
2015 Union of India v. V. Sriharan @ Murugan & Ors. referred to
2014 K. Saravanan Karuppasamy & Anr. v. State of Tamil Nadu & Ors. referred to
2014 The Security Association of India & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2014 Shatrughan Chauhan & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2013 Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of U.P. and Ors. referred to
2013 Prof. K.V. Rajendran v. Superintendent of Police, Cbcid South Zone, Chennai & Ors. referred to
2013 Kamlesh Verma v. Mayawati and Ors. referred to
2012 State of U.P. v. Sanjay Kumar referred to
2012 Ms. Mayawati v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2016 Dharam Pal v. State of Haryana & Ors. distinguished

Of those, 4 relied on · 11 followed · 1 distinguished · 22 referred to

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